Just recently I encountered a very random, seemingly odd issue related to sound and a Windows 7 desktop. I initially tested the speakers to ensure they worked and then I took a look at the desktop. The soundcard didn’t seem to be bad, neither was the integrated audio but I still couldn’t get the machine to play sound. After searching around on the Internet for awhile I encountered an easy fix that was mentioned a few times on various sites. The original article can be found here (http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/11/10/the-most-frustrating-windows-7-audio-problem-solved/)

Please note that the following process will lower the security of your PC. For corporate customers this isn’t such a big deal but for personal users you want to ensure you have additional forms of security in place before you enabled these settings.

At a secure command prompt please type the following commands.

If you ever want to revert the changes then just run the same commands, swapping delete for the add command to reverse the process.

A client recently migrated from a SBS 2003 server to a SBS 2011 installation. During the migration – they discovered legacy applications that weren’t meant to run on a x64 platform. They decided to keep the older SBS 2003 server to run these applications after demoting it from a Domain Controller.

They contacted us after a week – informing us that their older SBS 2003 server keeps rebooting. Looking in the logs we noticed a handful of related events – ID 1001/1013/1014. Looking at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555087 – it explains that they are in violation of the EULA relating to SBS 2003.

They needed to migrate their applications and data over to a new server but couldn’t do so while the system kept rebooting. To allow them to migrate their information, we disabled the C:\WINDOWS\system32\sbscrexe.exe process that was responsible for rebooting the server every 60 minutes.

3) Browsing to \WINDOWS\system32\ and either renaming or deleting the sbscrexe.exe file.

4) Rebooting the server into Windows and verifying that the sbscrexe.exe process is no longer running in the task manager.

There are numerous posts online that describe editing permissions on the registry and file while in the Windows environment – we found the Live-CD method to be the easiest and safest for resolving this issue. If you are experiencing issues related to the SBCore service and need help – please don’t hesitate in contacting us.

The guide below demonstrates a simple fix for common Windows 7 print spool errors. If the print spooler error persists after troubleshooting there may be additional corruption within your OS or printer driver subsystem. As always, make sure you are using the most updated drivers available from your manufacturers website.

Many people do not know there is a free anti-virus/malware program provided directly by Microsoft. Why bother installing a paid application when you can get free protection for your computer directly from the software manufacturer?

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free anti-malware solution for your computer provided by Microsoft. It helps protect against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. It’s available for Windows XP SP2(and higher), Windows Vista, and Windows 7.

To download the latest version directly from Microsoft, please follow the link below:

Many people have heard of using Google Earth to explore the world. Well, Microsoft has had a software that allows you to explore the cosmos in much the same way. It really is an amazing piece of software. Below is an except from their website that gives you a brief overview of what the software is. The direct link for the website and the Microsoft Windows Client are located at the end of the article.

“The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a Web 2.0 visualization software environment that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope—bringing together imagery from the world’s best ground- and space-based telescopes for the exploration of the universe. WWT blends terabytes of images, information, and stories from multiple sources into a seamless, immersive, rich media experience delivered over the Internet. Students of all ages will feel empowered to explore and understand the cosmos using WWT’s simple and powerful user interface.”